‘American Horror Story’ explores the history of Voodoo

When my husband and I moved from Brooklyn to New Orleans it was, needless to say, something of a culture shock for us both. Though I am from the Gulf South and had grown up quite familiar with the city, it took me moving to New Orleans to learn that, for example, Voodoo was a real, modern religion that was commonly practiced and not just a costumed show for the tourists. (That’s not to say that a lot of it isn’t show for the tourists, of course. Those stores in the French Quarter are probably not the real deal, guys.) For instance, to our astonishment, the paper of record, TheTimes-Picayune, would run perfectly straight-faced stories about local Voodoo queens at various functions — something that never happened in, say, the New York Post or Daily News.

And thus began my education about a religion that is grossly misrepresented in Western culture and has been for centuries. While I certainly do not practice it myself, I find the history of this religion brought here by the African slaves fascinating and compelling, and terribly maligned and misunderstood because of its otherness and its wrongfully perceived threat to Christianity.

This is why I am pleased that American Horror Story went out of their way to produce this five minute video of practitioners and historians of Voodoo briefly explaining the religion’s history and its practices:

The fact that the producers made this video at all signals that this season of American Horror Story has no intention of exploiting this very real religion and its believers. It would have been easy enough for the writers and producers to continue perpetuating certain ooga-booga stereotypes of this religion — and who knows, maybe they will. I haven’t seen the season yet, so I can’t say for certain. But it is heartening to know that at the very least, they made an effort to educate themselves and their viewers about what Voodoo actually is, rather than lazily relying on old myths and false beliefs.

And maybe I’m reading too much into it, but this video suggests to me that the season will approach both the practices of Voodoo and witchcraft from a fairly liberal, feminist perspective; treating them as religions that have been labeled as dangerous, evil and Satanic mostly because they are sources of power for minorities and women. Or, at least, one can hope.